Going Home

                                                                              

  An inner peace, A certain place

A glancing look, A presence felt

Within these walls of broken bones

Your presence comes and makes new flesh

It's you I want and not your gifts

I've had the world and left the rest

The breath of grace has touched my face

It's built the bridge called trust and faith

I'm sitting still and holding on

My eyes and ears are fixed on you

It's all of me and nothing more

The door swung open, I'm coming in

I've found the place we all call home.

Jim

Finding your Way in a Lost World

 Life can be very confusing at times. There are certain basic requirements and demands that we all must follow along life's journey. We are all sent to various schools for prescribed periods of time. School offers structure, knowledge and hopefully the development of useful life skills. But what do we do when we get that diploma? What about the in between places of life. There are often significant periods of time when we are waiting for the next thing to happen... the job, significant relationship, moving to a new location.

  Just how am I supposed to make the right choice? What or who is meant to guide me in this world of choice and uncertainty? The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a special kind of instruction offered to our world as wisdom for life. Written by King Solomon and inspired by God these proverbs have stood the test of time and offer an amazing foundation to learn and be guided by truth.

  I have a confession to make. The first Bible that I seriously read I stole from the Air force hospital chapel at Elmendorf Air force hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. A young lady I worked with named Paula Zimmerman knew I was in trouble in my life and invited me attend the chapel with her. While the chaplain was talking I was intrigued by the Bible sitting in the pew. As I slipped out of the service I grabbed the Bible and walked out with it. I thought it would be nice to have a Bible and this seemed to me at the time a good way to get one. Probably not a good idea to violate one of the ten commandments to get a Bible but such was the state of my life at the time!

  Months later during one of my very long 16 hour shifts working at the hospital lab I brought my 'stolen' Bible to work with me. I would have long periods when the lab was not too busy and I used this time to read books. I opened the Bible and was drawn to two sections of the Bible in particular. One was the book of Proverbs and the other was the book of Psalms. Proverbs was offering me amazing insights into life through practical statements of wisdom. Psalms was offering me amazing poetry of the soul... reading my emotions and offering honesty and a spiritual connection I desperately needed.

  I was 20 years old and very much a lost soul. I had a good job. I had a good family.  But I was lost on the inside and the emptiness was killing me. I had a lot of fear in my life and I was desperately seeking for something to guide my life going forward. As I read the book of Proverbs, I was confronting truth but I needed something more. This morning as I write this I want to help you to find your way in a 'lost world'.  Many people have all the tools for success right in front of them and yet stumble in making those critical decisions and relationships that are so key in getting to the place they were meant to be in life. I want to share briefly with you a Proverb that can open a door into One key relationship that will guide you into that place of meaning and contentment we all seek after.

  Proverbs chapter 3 and verses 5 and 6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart,  And lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he will direct your paths."
  I read the entire book of Proverbs during those long nights in Anchorage, Alaska. I knew it to be true. It resonated deeply in my mind... and yet knowing that it was true offered no real transformation in my life.  It offered me some solace and some temporary peace... but I was still the same on the inside.  I needed something more and yet I had no clue what that was.  What I was in need of was relationship. I needed a relationship with the author of those powerful truths being revealed to me in scripture. I needed to open my life up to the only one worthy of my full trust and surrender.

  Do you have a sense that you are being guided in life? Do you feel the presence of a living God in your daily life? Do you know what it means to trust in God.... really? Your understanding and knowledge no matter how refined and developed will always be incomplete. There is a God who knows you better than you know yourself. Why walk alone when your creator stands ready to guide you and steer into your preferred destiny?

 A relationship with God is not as complex as we imagine. When you get to the place of humility and openness you can begin to experience the presence of God through invitation.... just opening your heart and mind in surrender.  The humble shall hear.... and be glad. We often hear things better when we stop thinking we're so smart and in control. Today, I encourage you to open yourselves up to a living and loving God who wants to guide you in life. You're not alone... at your point of need there is a loving God calling you to a place of inner peace and contentment. Let him take away that fear and uncertainty.  God is speaking and his first word to us is to trust him. There is a new kind of life that begins with a spiritual birth of trust in God. Why don't you begin your day with a simple prayer, "God, I am not sure what my future holds.... I am struggling to believe.... to trust , to hope.... but God I need something beyond myself.... someone beyond myself to help me and guide me.... help me to begin to believe.... to begin to trust you. Amen."

Praying with you;
Jim

Depth Perception: Seeing with the Heart

  On December 9th I had surgery to implant a radiation plaque into my right eye. Doctors left the radiation in place at the back of my eye for 4 days. Now several weeks later my right eye is suffering some of the effects of that radiation beyond the goal of killing the melanoma tumor. My vision is now quite poor in that eye. One of the surprising impacts on my vision is that my depth perception has been reduced.
  Depth perception is the visual ability to see in 3 dimensions and to perceive correctly the distance of an object. Shortly after returning from Birmingham I realized that my depth perception was deeply impacted by the poor vision in my right eye. Mary was driving me to a dinner date when I falsely perceived that we were about to hit something in the road.... I screamed out to Mary to avoid something that was not as it appeared! It takes binocular vision (2 eyes) to accurately perceive the distance of an object. Now with one eye's vision markedly reduced, I have to relearn how to perceive both depth perception and sensation. We all desperately need accurate vision to live in this world.... and the next.
  You might not have a physical vision problem. You might have excellent vision and not even require glasses or other assistance to see clearly. Be grateful for the ability to move around in your environment without danger or fear. Vision is a great gift and a complex physical phenomenon that requires so many things to work together perfectly to enable you to see clearly. But there is another kind of vision that we also need to be aware of. There is a spiritual vision.... a vision of the heart that can be damaged by the sin in our lives. Jesus addressed the need for a 'clean heart' that would enable us to see the matters of the heart accurately.
  In the gospel of Matthew chapter 5 and verse 8, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  In a world of spiritual darkness and desperation there is another kind of vision we all  need.... we need to see the invisible and eternal things to get the 'depth perception' we need. There is a 4th dimension that most of us never see or perceive. It takes faith.... it takes a second birth to see into the forever reality of God. Our physical senses can't take us where we were born to live forever. We need spiritual eyes.
  There is a surgery of the heart that God performs when we come to the place of conviction of our own brokenness and need of him. Right now my physical vision has been damaged by a cancerous tumor. I am believing that God is healing the physical damage caused by that tumor and the radiation treatment designed to kill it. At the same time that my physical depth perception has been reduced my spiritual perception has been increased. I am seeing God in so many ways ..... with a depth perception of the soul. I am seeing more with my heart than I ever have.  My prayer is that I would see what God sees...feel what God feels....hear what God hears.  It's often when we're hurting in some way in our lives that we have the unique opportunity to gain compassion and concern for others beyond ourselves. It's in those moments that we can experience a vision of things previously unseen....I want to see with my heart the things that really matter. Open the eyes of my heart Lord. I want to see you.

Jim

Pursuing your Dream

  In our pursuit of our dreams it is vital that we understand the reality of process. A dream is a destination we move toward in the direction of the future. The dreamer is a person who becomes someone capable of living out the dream. No one who sets out to 'live the dream' begins with all the ingredients necessary to fulfill it. We become who we need to be as we move in the direction of our dream. A person without dreams is someone without a future. You must dream! Your humanity cries out for something more and you must respond! But what about the things that get in the way of fulfilling our dreams? How do we deal with the dream killers in our lives?

  Every dream killer is a test of the dreamers character. A dreamer is always a leader. Leaders see the future and bring others with them into the 'not yet'. However, if your character is deficient you forfeit the ability to obtain the promise of the dream. Joseph in the Old Testament book of Genesis was given an amazing dream at the age of 17. The dream showed that God was going to use him greatly in leadership in his family and nation. The dream was so great that it instilled jealousy and disbelief in his own family. Joseph was relegated to a period of slavery in Egypt. His dream seemed conquered by circumstances. But God was at work making Joseph into the man needed to deliver on the dream. Even with favor and gifting, the fulfillment of our dreams and visions for life are not an automatic reality. Many men and women of immense talent, training and intelligence never receive the ultimate fulfillment of their dream.

  Joseph had a relationship with God. This becomes apparent as we read through the Genesis account. It says repeatedly in chapter 39 that the Lord's favor was upon his life..... and thus he received blessing and increasing responsibility. Joseph has something vital to the fulfillment of his God inspired dream..... integrity. Joseph was the same whole (Holy) person on the inside and outside. His words, his lifestyle and his commitments all flowed out of a deep commitment to God.

  The reality is that we don't know who we really are on the inside till we face real temptation from the outside. In our broken and fallen world that temptation frequently appears in the sensual/sexual area. God has created us with strong desires for intimacy and love. When those desires are kept within the God given boundaries detailed in scripture we remain blessed and safe. When we step outside of marriage for sexual fulfillment we face a world of hurt, brokenness, disease and death. Joseph was given 'free reign' to lead and administer the household of his master Potiphar in Egypt. However, Potiphar's wife lusted after Joseph sexually and tried to force him to meet her desire. Joseph resisted successfully, however the spurned woman wound up falsely accusing Joseph. Joseph winds up in prison and it seems as if the dream will never happen!

  Delay is not denial in God's timing. While we are 'purpose driven', God is relationship directed. While we want to get things done, God wants to see us become. Joseph was sovereignly being directed by God to places where he could become the man who would fulfill the dream. It all comes down to relationship and trust. You are not a robot removed from the  need for intimacy with God. A man or woman only known by their achievement is not truly a success from God's perspective. 

  What priorities are relationships in your life? Are you investing time in developing your relationship skills? How is your E.Q? (Emotional intelligence). To what extent are you surrendering your circumstances to God in prayer? What might God be saying to you in this time of 'in between"?

  If you don't know where you're going, you're lost. Being lost isn't fatal except when you're not willing to admit it. Dreamers sometimes get lost on the way to where they are meant to be. Keep pursuing God and keep pursuing the dreams he has birthed in your heart and life.

Jim

The Foundation for Lasting Intimacy: Trust

  We get the pace and timing of intimacy all wrong. As the rock & media anthems blare out into our culture, "we want it all and we want it now".... The two sexiest words in the English language have nothing to do with the sexual act but they lay the ground work for sustainable relationships: RESPECT and TRUST. Doesn't sound very "sexy" does it?

  Respect implies a duality of humility and a desire to learn who the "other" really is. It's an attitude that goes way beyond judging a person by what can be seen on the surface. When you respect a person you make a major assumption that the real value lies much deeper than the visible surface. The idea of pacing in relationship applies a certain sense of the artist in getting to know others. If I respect people, I will make an effort to know them by listening, studying, embracing the difference and responding in step with a shared rhythm of pace. Lust demands immediacy, while love and intimacy demand measured and careful responses. You certainly don't respect someone when you leap to conclusions and demand someone become what you want them to be..... that is hatred without varnish.

  Trust is so fundamentally needed to develop and sustain intimacy that we could write for days on its meaning and essential qualities... but we won't. Let's cut to the core understanding. Trust is in the context of human relationships a response to honor and respect. It's a byproduct of someone who shows care, sensitivity and selflessness in relationships. Trust develops from ongoing deposits large and small of acts of love, goodness, kindness and shared joy. When trust is betrayed in a major way the relationship of intimacy is stripped down to the foundation and must be rebuilt... over time and through consistent deposits of character based acts of love. The real aroma of love is not fundamentally based on romantic imagery alone (though it helps a great deal!). When someone can be trusted and respected over time, the intimacy of conversation, emotional and sensual connection deepens to levels that last a life time. Revolving door relationships result from rushing into and depending on sexuality as glue without really first "knowing" the person in their inner selves. 
Sexual pleasure is one of life's greatest experiences but its not meant to be wasted or spoiled by selfishness or lack of respect and trust. When we go into relationships through the back door of control or impulse we miss the full extent of joy and pleasure prepared in God's timing and design. When we trust God enough and respect others enough we begin to see the blueprint of sustainable love and move beyond selfishness and abuse of others whom we say we love.

The Process of Intimacy: From the Inside Out

We our fixated on what we can see, feel, taste and touch. Our senses cry out for attention and we often become slaves of our appetites. The power of temptation to sin lies in the deception that once we satisfy our immediate desire (hunger, lust, thirst etc..) we will be at peace. Funny thing about sensual desire without the guidance and control of our inner selves (Spirit).... its NEVER satisfied.
Because of sin, our ability to control desire has been damaged beyond self repair. We need an appetite/desire SAVIOR. Our soul needs to be cleansed and reborn just as much as our Spirit. You must be born again is a command that needs to be applied in our hearts, minds, souls and bodies. If we are not yielding every dimension of ourselves we are walking relational time bombs ready to go off at the worst possible moments (often as we approach intimacy).

We live in a time when people are diagnosed as commitment phobic. Books have been written and movies scripted with titles like, "He's just not that into you".  People recognize a timing device inside of them attached to a 'soul bomb' that they desperately don't want to go off... no one wants to see themselves splattered all over someone else.... we are afraid to fail. When we look in the mirror and compare the images of who we think we are, compared to the societal "norm", we become afraid and disilllusioned.. no amount of gym workout time can ever substitute for what God can do as you receive his unconditional love. You and I were NEVER meant to live in relationships with others apart from an ongoing, vital & intimate relationship with God. If God is not first in your relational priorities, I assure you sin is crouching at the door of your life.

The process of healthy and satisfying intimacy begins on the inside and works itself outward. When your heart is at rest and satisfied in its relationship with God you are at the starting line of a great life of intimacy and love.

Isaiah 55, "Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not SATISFY? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live....  


Question for you, Is your soul alive?

You can't buy intimacy, you can't become someone else to make others love you.... intimacy begins and ends at the feet of a loving Savior..... if you're hurting today because of enslaving yourself to bread that can never satisfy you... God is NOT condemning you.... he knows about desire .... he created it and wants to give you something that will yield everlasting satisfaction and bring healing to your heart, mind, soul and body.... the road to healthy and pure intimacy can begin afresh today.... I am praying with you for healing, hope and a life of love to be yours both now and forever!


Jim

The Land Between: Surviving the Challenge of Transition

To be a follower of God is to be a pilgrim. We are all together on a journey with and toward God. He is leading us.... calling us onward in a pilgrimage of faith and transformation. The challenge of transition is most acute in the 'land between' ....from where we have been to where God is calling us.


Transition is the place of danger... and also the place where we either grow and mature or regress and falter spiritually. (See Numbers chapter 11 in the Old Testament of the Bible for the references in this short article)



When we're 'on the road' with God the issue of provision (having what we need) is always paramount in our minds. The journey from the known to the unknown is fraught with the temptations peculiar to the 'not yet' of every faith journey. Faith always grows deepest in the dark room of the unknown places God calls us to walk through. The people of Israel were slaves in a futile and hopeless land.... they were working for another king and kingdom. God was calling them out to freedom in worship and onward to a life of promise and blessing. But the journey out was hard. The challenges of moving into the future must be met head on. Let's look carefully at what must be overcome.


When God has us in transition we often find ourselves overcome by the temptation to complain. In Numbers chapter 11 and verses 4-6, we hear the people complaining about God's provision of food. God was miraculously providing "Manna" from heaven but the people grew weary of this amazing miracle. The truth is we don't like change. It takes faith and trust to move forward into the unknown of new circumstances, jobs, relationships and ministry. Everything changes when God calls us out with him to the land between.


Often our sense of identity is not wrapped around our relationship with God. Instead we identify ourselves by other markers: our work, church life, wealth, possessions, hobbies, family life and relationships. In times of transition we have to guard our hearts against an attitude of ingratitude and false expectations built on a falsely glorified past.



In verses 11-15 of Numbers 11 we see that the land between of transition is fertile ground for an emotional breakdown. Moses begins to doubt God's wisdom and faithfulness to him. He is emotionally distraught and ready to quit...borderline suicidal..... saying "Kill me now!". He begins to doubt the promise of the place where God is taking him.


Doubt and emotional turmoil are not unusual in times of transition and turmoil. They are signals of our absolute dependence upon God to fulfill his word in us, to us and through us. We simply cannot go where God is taking us without an ongoing,absolute and total surrender to the Holy Spirit. Moses felt the crushing weight of disappointment through the cries of the people... the opposing spirit of worship (complaining) was too heavy for him to bear alone. He needed shared and empowered leaders to help him take the people where God was going.


In verses 16 and 17 of Numbers 11 we see that the land between is fertile ground to receive God's provision. We need to keep our hands open to receive from God. When we're angry due to a sense of loss of control we close our fists to protect our "stuff"....symbolic sometimes of a hardened heart toward God and others. We need to pray for a spirit of contentment during times of change. We need supernatural grace to deal with the elevated stress levels we undergo when we leave the familiar to embrace the next place God has for us.


In verses 18-20 and 23 we see that God sometimes has to discipline us when we rebel and resist the path God places before us. Discipline is one way that God shows us his committed love to us as his children. Discipline can be defined as "inflicting pain for redemptive purposes". Holiness and spiritual maturity don't come automatically. It's in the wilderness that we learn to pray and depend utterly on God alone.



Question to test ourselves: Are you throwing yourself completely on God to meet your every need? (Body, Soul & Spirit)

A final challenge: Our heart is in danger in the land between!

Don't believe the deceptive lie that time heals all wounds. It does not. Over time, some people heal while others become embittered and hardened. The land between usually forces us one way or the other. The habits of the heart we develop in this space---our responses and reactions---will determine whether the land between results in spiritual life or death. Complaining and a spirit of complaining resists eviction. Complaining and trust cannot live in the same house. They are incompatible and double minded roommates.

I believe we are living in a time of forced transition of unimagined magnitude. There has never been a time of such intense and rapid change in every sector of our lives. We are all in some way leaving what we know. But not everyone who transitions will make it to the land of God's promise and provision. We are meant to learn from the lessons of the people of historical Israel. They were called to the 'land of milk and honey', but sadly few made it.

I am praying we will make the right choices necessary to make it out of the land between and into the place of God's promise. He is waiting for us and calling us forward in love.

Jim











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